Matt Gay is inking a one-year deal to join the Washington Commanders as the team’s new kicker, a league source confirmed to The Athletic.
The deal will see Gay earn $4.35 million fully guaranteed and is worth up to $5 million with incentives, according to a league source. Gay will earn the most guaranteed money on a one-year deal for a kicker in NFL history, according to NFL Network.
In a corresponding move, the Commanders released kicker Zane Gonzalez, according to a league source. He was the team’s kicker throughout its run to the NFC Championship Game — making the game-winning 37-yard kick to defeat the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in the wild-card round — and played in six regular-season games for Washington. In March, Gonzalez had signed a one-year, $1.17 million deal. The release will save the team $1.030 million against the cap, according to Over the Cap.
Earlier this month, Gay was released by the Indianapolis Colts. Across two seasons with the Colts, Gay was 64-of-78 (82.1 percent) on field goal attempts. In that span, 11 of Gay’s 14 misses came from 50 yards or longer (11-of-22 from that distance). Two years earlier, Indianapolis had signed him to a four-year, $22.5 million deal, which at the time was the most lucrative free-agent contract for a kicker in NFL history.
Prior to that, Gay played three seasons with the Los Angeles Rams and was named to the Pro Bowl and won a Super Bowl with the team in 2021. In 2019, he made his NFL debut with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Across a six-year career, Gay has a field goal percentage of 85.5 percent (making 165-of-193 attempts).
The Commanders used four kickers last season: Gonzalez, Austin Seibert, Greg Joseph and Cade York. The quartet combined to go 34-of-42 (81.0 percent) on field goals and 45-of-47 (95.7 percent) on extra points.
(Photo: Tim Warner / Getty Images)